Ben Cardin actually said...

"China is accomplishing its mission by what it did because they are, in fact, establishing a claim that is not legitimate but making it legitimate by time?"

"We will not give up on diplomacy. We are not the Armed Services Committee. We are the Foreign Relations Committee."

"the more fundamental point is that China has already made a commitment; made a commitment to avoid and refrain from provocative actions that complicate these issues or make it more difficult to resolv..."

"if we were to ratify it, we might be able to use that mechanism more effectively with China."